Indonesia becomes country with most confirmed COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia

South Tangerang Civil Registration Office staff wear protective gear as they serve citizens in Cilenggang, South Tangerang, Banten, on Tuesday, a day after the office was reopened. The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network/Seto Wardhana

JAKARTA — Indonesia has recorded a total of 41,431 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Thursday, making it the country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia.

With 1,031 new confirmed cases on Thursday, the country has surpassed Singapore, which recorded 41,216 confirmed cases, according to Singapore’s Ministry of Health.

Indonesia also has the highest death toll in the region with a total of 2,267 fatalities due to the disease, far surpassing Singapore’s 26 COVID-19 deaths.

Health Ministry Disease Control and Prevention Director General Achmad Yurianto said on Thursday that the new cases were still concentrated in five provinces, namely East Java with 225 new reported cases, followed by Jakarta with 127, Central Java with 115, South Kalimantan with 86 and South Sulawesi with 84 cases.

Yurianto, however, said he remained optimistic about the country’s fight against the disease, as 16,243 people had recovered.

He reiterated the importance of each individual to protect themselves from contracting the virus. “It’s important to adapt to the new normal, being productive while adhering to health protocols to stop the virus transmission chain,” he said.

He added that the government kept tracing the virus “aggressively” by increasing the number of tests. To date, the country has carried out 547,811 swab tests on 339,687 people.